responsibility of the patent attorney?

You have contracted with the patent attorney and that is governed by ordinary contract and consumer law . A patent attorney may also have additional obligations according to the Code of Practice of the relevant professional body

Hi John,

In general a patent attorney has no liability and responsibility of technical accuracy of patent application. Drafting of a patent application is a team work where an inventor or team of inventors work(s) with patent attorney to provide a techno-legal draft of their invention. So, you have to review the draft at every step to check that if its covering your invention or not. However, if you have provided the power of attorney/rights of prosecuting or maintaining the patent application with related PTO then in this case their exist a clear responsibility of patent attorney. Recently, a US court has fined a law firm for missing the important deadline for a patent also proves the liability of law firm in patent cases.

Regards,
Ashutosh

The short answer is no - you, the inventor, are responsible for accuracy and completeness. In fact, I personally operate under the CAT principle - complete, accurate, and thorough - so when I prepare a patent application, I strive for completeness, accuracy, and thoroughness but when I send the application to the inventor(s) for approval, I emphasize to them that they must ensure that I have in fact described everything completely, accurately, and thoroughly. Once the application is prepare and approved, the attorney will file it and then the attorney has the responsibility to manage it properly - to notify the inventors of any notices from the Patent Office, to timely respond to such notices, all the way to the end when the patent is actually issued.

Al too often we see patents in litigation where the inventor has left the technical details to the patent attorney. This is a mistake. Read the patent very carefully, do not assume that your attorney is correct or accurate. Do not assume that a Court or a jury reading the patent 15 years later will fill in the missing details. They may be clearly implied to you, but they will be completely unknown to other. Read carefully fill in the details and the missing pieces.